Katie Lovett

I recently found this post from Slushmaster, editorial assistant for Realms of Fantasy magazine. It talks about observations he's made about fantasy shorts in his time as a slush reader.

I really liked finding an article that specifically focused on short fiction writing, especially with a fantasy bent. There aren't many out there. True, many fiction writing books discuss structural and plot concerns that do apply to both short and long form, but while novels and shorts have many things in common, they're also quite different. And I would love to know more about writing good short fiction. At the risk of sounding conceited, I think my stuff is good--I wouldn't be submitting it if I didn't--but there's always room for improvement. If only Poe had written a how-to book about short fiction writing!

My recent post about Jack M. Bickham's book Scene and Structure had me thinking about this question. Do you have a favorite writing book? You may not refer to it now, but when you were greener as a writer, did one book really stand out and help you improve your craft more than others? Or is there a book you still refer to when you need guidance or inspiration?

Personally, I find it hard to pick one, but if I had to choose, I'd probably say Write Tight by William Brouhaugh. Sadly, it's out of print, so it's hard to find. It really helped me cut the dead weight from my prose. My work is much tighter, cleaner, and more professional now that I know where to look for extra words, or for ways to rephrase that cut my word count in half.

On the other hand, I know that some books and their advice can actually do more harm than good if they're too advanced for the writer reading them. I think that a person needs to already be writing regularly and have the beginnings of a feel for their own style before they're ready to learn how to improve it. Prompt books are good for this, I think. And in fact, prompt books really helepd get me in the habbit of writing every day.

But I digress.

So, favorite writing books, anyone?

I'll be leaving Thursday to head for the conference. I just wanted to remind everyone that if there's something at the conference you'd be particularly interested in hearing about when I get back, please do let me know. The list of workshops I'll be attending is here. If there's something on the list that you really want to know about, I'll take extra notes and focus on that when I do my conference posts.

I will try to blog while I'm away for the conference, but I'll be saving my conference coverage for afterward so I have time to organize my thoughts on it before I post.

That's it. See you tomorrow!

Sorry, sorry, sorry for yesterday's lacking post, especially because I have nothing to say today, either. But see, I had this super awesome idea for a story, and I have to get it out of my head and on paper.

But for some interesting conversation, pop over to BookEnds' blog and check out this post about bad books.

Now that the offical notice has been posted, I can go ahead and share this. My writer friend Tina Gray, aka krysta_3, has an agent now. She is being represented by Kim Lionetti of BookEnds LLC, whom I will be meeting at the Pennwriters Conference. (Isn't that a weird coincidence?) Hurray! She's the very first writer friend I ever made, the very first online friend I ever made, and now she's got an agent. Isn't that exciting?

So pop over to her blog and give her a big congratulations. I've read the manuscript she got an agent for, and it's wonderful. It made me cry, it was such a beautiful story. (You can read a description and some excerpts at her website.)

Congratulations again!

Dop! Crap, crap, crap. I just committed the number one crime of submitting to editors. I spelled the editor's name wrong. Oh, yes. I did. I realized it after I got what I assume was the automated response to my submission, and it was signed with the zine editor's name. So, next time I write a cover letter, no matter how sure I am that this common name is spelled the way I've seen it spelled a thousand times before, I'm going to double-check anyway. Because I could be wrong. I was today.

I've been rereading Jack M. Bickham's Scene and Structure, which I recommend for the most part. But in Chapter 2, he makes a statement which I disagree with, and I'm curious as to what you think. Here it is:

For maximum effectiveness, you should start your story at the time of change that threatens your major character's self-concept.

He explains that each of us has "a mental picture of the kind of person we are." This is our self-concept, and it is the basis for our opinions of ourselves. It is our answer to the question, "Who are you?" and people will generally go to any lengths to protect that self-concept. This, Bickham says, should form the start of a story. His example is the story of a woman who considers herself an efficient secretary, who is faced with an office situation that makes her feel inefficient at her job.

I'll agree that this method makes for a good story. But is this the only effective plot? Yes, a great story shows our characters evolving and changing their views of the world and themselves; they are different people at the end than they were at the beginning. But must a good story so blatantly challenge self-concept? I mean, while we do have a self-concept, and while it may come into play in an indirect way, I see nothing wrong with a plot that doesn't revolve around it. Am I making sense? I don't think I'm saying what I want to say here, and maybe that's because I'm still confused about this. What do you think of Bickham's advice?

Two days ago, I posted some links to some agent interviews, and I mentioned that Lucienne Diver worked for Spectrum Literary Agency. This is no longer true, according to agent Nephele Tempest's blog. As of now, Lucienne Diver works for The Knight Agency. Thought you might like to know.

BTW, this doesn't count as my May 8 post. I just wanted to update you asap, since I accidentally gave you false information. There will be more when I awaken from my slumber! Beware!

I just got an email from the Pennwriters Conference coordinater. She stumbled across my recent blog post in which I mentioned that I was disappointed that "Promoting Your Book on a Shoestring Budget" was no longer on the schedule. Turns out that this was an accidental error on the sheet I saw. That class will be held. Hooray! Wasn't that so nice of her to let me know?

Lucienne Diver of Spectrum Literary Agency dispels a myth that says, "At the beginning of your career, the only agent you can get is one you don't want. You're better off selling a few books yourself and then having your pick of the agent pool when you have a track record."

Lucienne Diver, Shawna McCarthy, Donald Maass, Andrew Zack, Eleanor Wood, Joshua Blimes, Jack Byrne, and Nanci McCloskey discuss sci-fi and fantasy, their work as agents, and book publishing in general in this interview which I may have already linked to long ago. I can't remember, but it's a great interview and worth rereading. Very thorough.

Author Jim C. Hines interviews his agent, Steve Mancino of JABberwocky Literary Agency. ("Beware the jabberwock, my son, the jaws that bite, the claws that clench...." Oh, sorry. I just love that poem!)

I wrote a post for today, but I'm just too tired to type it in. So here's where I am on Immigrant Moon:

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I'm going to celebrate when I get to 25%. Have an ice cream or something. You can have one, too.

It's not that unusual to reread books you liked, but has anyone reread a book they hated and then changed their mind about? Recently I mentioned that The Witch of Blackbird Pond had a profound effect on me. But I didn't fall in love with it on the first read. My tastes had changed over time--which I suppose makes sense, since I was ten the first time and twelve the second time I read it. And even though my tastes changed more quickly when I was a kid, I can still see them altering slightly even now. Which is why I still have my copy of Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, even though I stopped reading at page 30 when I tried it before. So far, I haven't heard of anyone besides me who didn't like his work. Maybe I'll change my mind someday.

PS: I now have a user pic! It's temporary; I'll find a better one later.

Preach it, brother!

Two items I found interesting....

As expected, Amazon filed suit with the Supreme Court of New York to "challenge the constitutionality of a newly enacted New York State statute that requires out-of-state internet retailers, with no physical presence in New York, to collect sales and use taxes."

Amazon asserts that the new tax violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution because "it imposes tax-collection obligations on out-of-state entities who have no substantial nexus with New York." They argue that their "affiliate" sites are "independently operated" sites that "post advertisements with links to Amazon and are compensated for these advertisements." They also claim the definition of "solicitation" of sales is "overly broad and vague" and charge that the tax--already informally known as the Amazon tax--"intentionally targets Amazon" and thus violates the Equal Protection Clause.

Um, what? Amazon is mad that it's being treated unfairly, yet their new policy to only sell small press and POD books which they print themselves threatens POD publishers and attempts to monopolize a part of the industry. And so I quote to you, Amazon, my husband's favorite line from The Breakfast Club. Well, actually, I won't, because I want to keep some semblance of professionalism, however much of an illusion that may be. But "Cry me a river, insert-profane-name-here." Sheesh.


And why isn't this book on sale yet?

Roy Morris, Jr.'s LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY, a narrative of the five years (1861-1866) that Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) spent out West as a Confederate guerrilla, silver miner, newspaper reporter, and travel writer during the Civil War, a crucial period of his life when he found his voice as a writer and became, literally, Mark Twain, to Roger Labrie at Simon & Schuster, by Georges Borchardt at Georges Borchardt (World English).

Don't these people know that this could be useful with my Immigrant Moon research? I want to read it now. I won't need it anymore by the time this book actually hits shelves.

I volunteered to help out at the Pennwriters Conference, and I just got the list of slots available for moderators at the different sessions. "Promoting Your Book on a Shoestring Budget" is no longer being offered, according to this up-to-date list. *sob* I was really looking forward to that. Oh, well. At least now I can attend the "Perfect Plotting" session which was to take place at the same time.

I hope to complete my list of conference prep items today. Book hotel (should have done that already), line up babysitters (should have done that already), print copies of my query for the query clinic, purchase clothes (because now that I'm pregnant, I have nothing nice that fits me anymore), and purchase new shoes (which is always challenging, since I wear a size 13). And now that I've bored you with my to-do list, I shall depart.

I had nothing to blog about today until brian_ohio tagged me for the following meme:

a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

So behold:

1. During my first week as a waitress, I spilled coffee on a customer.
2. On a dare, I once wore a pair of underwear on my head, walked into a gas station... and then chickened out on the rest of the dare and did not ask where the condoms were.
3. I used to play the saxophone.
4. I am 5'11" and I don't like it. People who aren't tall tell me I so lucky. Um, no. My husband is shorter than me!
5. I love the smell of fresh garlic. Definitely not a vampire.
6. I just realized that you have no idea whether or not I'm telling the truth about all this stuff. I mean, I could have made it up, and you'd never know. (Well, except for me being 5'11". You'd know that if you met me.) But don't worry. I didn't lie. Or did I? Did I?

And because it's relevant, here's a bonus seventh fact about me. The only thing I don't like about memes is having to tag other people. I know some people don't like them, and I feel weird doing it, as if for some reason, everyone would hate me and stop talking to me if I said, "Hey, I'm tagging some of you for this meme." I have issues, I know. But anyway, I'm therefore not playing by all the rules here. I think this is fun, so anyone who feels compelled, go for it. Consider yourself tagged.

On a completely unrelated note, did you know that 5 out of 4 people can't do fractions?

My husband got me The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz for Christmas. At the end of the book is a section titled "Books That Will Change Your Life," which is further broken into subcategories. Here are the selections for "Science Fiction and Fantasy Books":

Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain
Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Robot series
Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine and Fahrenheit 451
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and all the books in the Ender series
Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence
Lois Lowery's The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger
Ursula K. LeGuin's The Tombs of Atuan and her Earthsea trilogy
Anne McCafferey's Dragonsong trilogy
Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

Should I be concerned that I've never read any of these? Some are on my list, but I've not had a chance to get to them yet. Actually, I was more concerned about some great books not included on that list, but then I found them in other subcategories:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, and her other books, too
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. All seven, in time, and as you grow
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

And there are other fantasy books I've read on the big list as well, though why they weren't categorized as fantasy, I don't know.

There are many other worderful books on this list of "Books That Will Change Your Life," including one book that really did change mine--The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.

Some of these books also appear on the "Books Every Boy Should Read" list in The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden, which inspired The Daring Book for Girls. Both of these books are fantastic. Lots of fun activites and information. I'm really looking forward to exploring some of this stuff with my kids when they get older.

I saw Spamalot yesterday. Fantastic! I've been dying to see it for so long. If you like Monty Python and you get a chance to go, do it!

It was interesting to see the Grail translated from movie screen to stage, especially to a stage musical. And the songs were just as funny as the rest of the play, full of the Monty Python style we love so well. I laughed so hard I cried on the song the Lady of the Lake sings with Gallahad. The effects in that song were brilliant as well, and brilliant thorughout the whole show. My theater group is thinking about doing Spamalot, but I don't know how we'll do those special effects. But we will find a way!

The whole experience was great, not just the show itself. There were some funny parts in the program, too. My favorite line from there said, "I love trees, and in Finland, there's something like a thousand trees for every person. I especially like the bits in between the trees, which allow you to walk around them without hitting them." Oh, and they sold bunny slippers at the merchandise table. But not just any bunny slippers. It was that killer rabbit, and the slippers even had fanged mouths that opened up. I got a t-shirt. I wish I was rich; I'd have bought everything on the table.

So needless to say, I didn't get much writing done yesterday, which is bad because I also won't get much done today. So tomorrow is going to be a catch-up day. I'll be writing from dawn to dusk.

Weird. And cool. A 400-some word story written only with words that begin with "w".

(Thanks to Clyde for the link!)

In the comments section of the link I gave yesterday regarding Cassie Edwards, one commenter criticized people for taking seriously the plagiarism claims raised by Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books. According to the commenter, it's ridiculous to take seriously any news that comes from a place with such a snarky title, or that can be so snarky when it comes to giving reviews.

Since I don't read Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books, I can't comment on the level of snark it does or doesn't contain. But the commenter raises an interesting issue, I think. Does a news source that can come across as, well, bitchy or attitudy seem less reliable to you?

For me, it depends. Miss Snark, after all, was the queen of snark; she was blunt, said what she wanted, and some people didn't like her for that. I've got to admit that for me, she took some getting used to. But I could always count on her to give top-notch information and advice. She delivered. She may have been snarky, but time and time again, she proved that she knew what she was talking about.

Now, some snarky (or whatever you want to call it) people--both on and off line--have not proven themselves as reliable sources. And some people are sweet and gentle, yet are unreliable sources, while other sweet and gentle people are very reliable. So to me, it's not so much the attitude with which the information is given, but the consistent delivery of the promised goods. Not that professionalism doesn't matter, but I think of professionalism as the veneer on a piece of furniture. If it's pretty, but the chair isn't solid, what good is it? I'd rather rely on a chair that won't collapse under my weight.

On the other hand, if I can get reliable information from someone who doesn't annoy me with their snarkiness, all the better. And of course, I think that snarky or bitchy or whatever is a relative term. People define it differently. And I also think that I'm starting to overanalyize, so I'll stop now.